Thanks for the reviews, Sarah Liz B, Weasleytwinslover87, and LizziePixie-Aiko!
Sad chapters, I know, but they are necessary for the story. There's a bit of humor in the next one. I was going to publish 43, but I'm a bit busy today, so it might have to wait until tomorrow.
Reviews please?
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!
CHAPTER 42
Sleep is such a wonderful and awful thing, you can escape almost everything when you sleep. But facing the reality when you wake is such an awful consequence.
You can never truly hide from anything.
A day later, Sven came running into the Gryffindor common room.
"What is it?" Remus asked, as everyone looked at Sven. He was panting heavily, he must have run through quite a bit of the castle.
"Audrey…" He breathed. "can have…visitors…now…"
Marlene bolted from her chair but Remus grabbed her arm, holding her back for a second.
"Was it confirmed?"
Sven nodded. "Severus was allowed to see her this morning, Karl is over there now, I figured I'd run here and tell you all."
Marlene fought against Remus' arm, he let her go and she began to set off into a run. The boys, Chantal, Lily, and Sarah followed closely.
Marlene was far in the lead.
"Damn these ballerinas and their strong legs!" James huffed as Sarah sprinted past him to catch up with Marlene.
"I just can't believe we're losing to them!" Sirius said as they sped up.
"We're not ballerinas, we're step dancers! Get your shit right, James Potter!" Sarah called over her shoulder, not far from Marlene.
"Hey, Chantal, why aren't you up there?" Sirius called over his shoulder.
"Because Lily wanted a running buddy." Chantal replied. There was a great whoosh of air and Sirius saw someone pass him to his left
"DAMNIT, MOONY!"
Remus had caught into stride with Marlene, who was way up ahead, Sarah was behind them. Remus shot Sirius a wolfish grin over his shoulder.
"Damn special people." James muttered, receiving a whack in the back from Chantal.
Finally, at the end of the hallway they could just make out Karl and Audrey. He was just getting ready to leave. Marlene hurtled down the hallway, Audrey pulled Karl to one side of the hallway so he wouldn't get run over.
If Audrey had been a human, with the speed that Marlene was coming at her and the sudden stop I'm sure they would have been thrown backwards. But she intercepted the hug easily.
There was a bunch of muffled sobs heard between the two and words that weren't heard clearly from the others.
A lot of people compared Marlene and Audrey to James and myself. I'm sure you could understand why.
The others began to arrive, panting heavily, except for Remus and Chantal who appeared as though they hadn't run at all. There was a swarm of hugs and Audrey let them inside, she wanted a moment to see Karl off.
"Why is he leaving?" James asked, as Audrey came in and shut the door.
"He's got some business to attend to in regards to arrangements." Audrey replied, getting out the tea kettle from the makeshift kitchen and conjuring some cups for her eight visitors.
"So, where's Hisoka?" Lily asked, deciding to change the subject.
"She's out for the day with the headmaster." Audrey shrugged, pouring them some tea. "She was gone when I woke."
"How long have you been asleep?" Marlene asked.
"Er, about two and a half days." Audrey shrugged again, taking a seat next to her best friend. "It wasn't my choice."
"What do you mean?" asked Sirius. Hisoka had made it seem that Audrey had slept of her own accord.
"I was injected with a form of tranquilizer." Audrey said quietly. "I got a bit vicious…I was feeling quite…vengeful."
"Are they allowed to do that?" Lily whispered, incredulous.
"They aren't to a human student, but when it's someone like me, I pose a danger." Audrey replied, a little annoyed. "It's the same thing that they use in St. Mungo's when they do operations on magical creatures."
Remus shuddered, after he had been bitten by Fenrir Greyback as a boy his parents took him to St. Mungo's for treatment. He knew exactly what Audrey was referring to.
"They could have let me go home with my parents, but because everyone thinks they have more of a right to run my life than I do, I've been confined here." Audrey's eyes went rent for a moment.
"But…well…Karl and I, we saw Hisoka yesterday. And she led us in here, but she wasn't supposed to, she said we couldn't say a word because you were in a light sleep."
Audrey gave a cynical laugh. "She's an excellent liar isn't she? Rather charming at times. That tranquillizer is strong enough to put a giant to sleep, and kill a human on injection. My sleep was temperamental, but I can assure you my body was deadweight, I was incredibly drowsy."
"Well, Audrey if these men were out to kill your family, why would you want to go home?" James asked, changing the subject Audrey's eyes turned black for a moment.
"I don't know, James. Maybe because my father's there, my mother's there. They were allowed to go home and be alone. You don't think they want their heads just as much as they wanted my family? My little old grandmother? She didn't do anything, she's never hurt anyone but because of me she's dead."
"How do you know it's your fault, Audrey? It can't possibly be, you're just being hard on yourself." said Remus soothingly.
"It is." Audrey shook her head. "Vladimir told me he had seen me in action. I can never take that back."
"No…" Sven whispered, shocked. It was the first time he had spoken since arriving.
It seems it was a life that night many years ago for nine now.
Audrey wondered where Afanasi was now, she wished he was around to give her some sort of advice.
After a few moments of silence, Sirius spoke.
"Why? Why were they hunting you?"
The room shook for a moment, Audrey took a deep breath and looked at Sven.
I wasn't quite sure what to say.
Sirius spoke again. "Did you do something to Vladimir?"
Audrey shook her head. "About four years ago, Sven and I were walking around St. Petersburg one evening."
"We were heading home, and we heard this, er…man, pleading for his life in an alleyway. We should have went home, but we didn't. Curiosity got the better of us." said Sven.
"We saw Vladimir, and two of his associates bullying this skinny man. And we intervened, it was foolish, we really shouldn't have…I really shouldn't have…" Audrey's voice trailed off.
"No, no. it was the right thing." said Sven.
"It just cost me my entire family." She replied.
"Audrey, we don't know the whole story." Sven urged.
We didn't know what that little exchange was, we didn't think it would be a good time to ask. But the way they sounded and the way they looked at each other. There was some secret.
"The man, that was in trouble. He was an agent for the Russian Ministry at the time, before it was completely corrupted months after that. He wasn't a man at all, he was a vampire, which is quite monumental if you think about it." Sven picked up, before he continued Sarah asked.
"Why is it monumental?"
"There's a strict no creature policy enforced by the Russian ministry. They tolerate us, but we can't have jobs. We are always blamed if there's a crime or a murder, Dark Wizards get away with everything." Audrey said, staring into her tea for a moment.
"We gained a good friend that night, the vampire, Afanasi." Sven continued. "He's watched over us when we're doing stupid things…but I don't think this retaliation is about us sabotaging their attempts to kill him. Audrey, Ivan said there was something you needed to know…something that they had possibly known…"
"It's something apparently everyone knows!" Audrey sneered, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "Dumbledore even knows, yet for the last fourteen years I haven't been allowed to know. My father always says 'When you're older, Audrey. Not now, Audrey.'"
He also said "It's not safe, Audrey." …He was right.
"Ivan, my grandfather, my grandmother, Pavvel, Alina, Sophia, Jacques, Hans, and Petro. They all knew. Why is it that I didn't get to know? I have no idea, they were all killed over this secret."
"Did you ask your father?" Marlene asked, holding her friends hand.
"I tried to, at the palace the other night. He was too distraught, he became very angry with me and refused to talk about it. He simply ignored my question, like he always has."
Perhaps he wasn't so keen to say it out loud because he was afraid we were next, but after seeing our entire family slain because of it…I didn't understand how he could keep it from me any longer.
They changed the conversation again.
What did you say to someone after a situation like this?
"So…I know you've been out for a while, but seeing as you're awake and calm, will you be allowed back to the common room?" Peter asked. Audrey shook her head.
"I'm nowhere near calm, I'm angry beyond comprehension. I'm only keeping it together because you're all here. Had you not been…well, there might be a hole in this side of the school…" Audrey stirred her tea for a moment.
It was the truth, my emotions were far out of control. Saddness, anger, denial, anger, rage, depression…cyclical. Since I woke and registered everything that had happened I just wanted to be sleeping again…but I didn't want to be tranquillized. That made me feel weak and defenseless…
"But, you've controlled yourself for years just fine…I know this has been the worst thing ever, but you're fine with us." said James, cocking his head.
"I like you all, and I generally like most of the school population, but should I be around someone unfavorable…oh, let's use…Igor Karkaroff for an example, well, let's just say that I'd be thrown in Azkaban for my erratic behavior." Audrey replied conversationally, as if she were back to her old self.
"Taking a leaf out of Hisoka's book?" Sirius caught on, she nodded.
"Look, guys, I'm just glad you're all here. This truly means a lot." Audrey's eyes went blue.
"We wanted to come sooner." said Sven.
"But Dumbledore was being all mysterious." James chimed in. "He just told us you were in the castle and not to go looking for you."
Audrey snorted. "Yes, it seems he would say something like that. I should be cleared in two weeks when the term starts again."